Speedup Vista to the Max

Ok here we go , ill be sharing with you some of the really cool tweaks to speedup vista

However i wont be going through some of the very common tweaks like disabling the shortcut arrow etc

SECTION 0 - PREREQUISITES

A complete image backup of your vista partition using Acronis True Image and for recovery use the included recovery disc

Latest Drivers , Microsoft Windows Updates , DirectX package, .NET Framework 3.5 Packages etc

User running an account with Administrative Privelages

HOW TO CREATE A REG FILE

Ill be sharing many registry tweaks [ obvious ] , here , so if you dont know how to create a .REG file , here's a quick guide

If you have some registry text like this :



Quote:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\luafv] "Start"=dword:00000004



Create a New Text Document in Notepad or any other app u prefer and paste the above in it



Now that you know ......

So Lets Begin the tweaking

SECTION 1 - SPEED UP

DISABLE USER ACCOUNT CONTROL

First of all lets start by disabling the most annoying 'feature' of Vista , UAC.

Right Click on Command Promt and click on Run As Administrator
and paste this command and hit enter



Quote:

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /k %windir%\System32\reg.exe ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v EnableLUA /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f



Reboot and UAC wont bother you anymore


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SPEEDUP BOOT


UAC DISABLED? SPEEDUP BOOT

If you choose to disable UAC then you might have noticed [ or not ] bit of slowdown in your boot time , this is because the UAC driver is still loaded during startup ,which is unnecessary and can be disable by doing this



Quote:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\luafv] "Start"=dword:00000004



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SPEEDUP BOOT ON A MULTICORE PROCESSOR

Do you have a multi - core processor ? If so , you have another reason to smile about . Vista normally uses only 1 core at boot time which makes the boot slightly slower , so here is how to make use of all the cores and speedup boot



Start - Run - Type in msconfig - Boot - Advanced Options - Tick on Number of Processors - Select the maximum number [ that should be the number of processor cores ] - Click Ok - ok

Wait! Dont close MSCONFIG Yet
youll need it for the next tweak

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SPEEDUP BOOT BY DISABLING BOOT SCREEN NO GUI BOOT

This will disable the usual vista boot screen and speed up boot by a few seconds , also this enables a better boot screen
Caution ; Your Scheduled boot time defrags and disk checks will be cancelled or they will run with a black screen - you cannot see the progress

Start - Run - Type in msconfig - Boot
Check No GUI Boot
Check on Make All Boot Settings Permanent

Reboot if u want to see the effects immediately

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REMOVE THE BLACK SCREEN BEFORE LOGON AND SAVE 2 SECONDS BOOT - TIME

Do you get a 2 -3 second blank screen before logon ?

Transient Multimon Manager (TMM) is a Microsoft Windows Vista operating system feature targeted at improving the user experience of connecting and disconnecting displays, particularly for the mobile user. This is the 2-3 second delay followed by a blank black screen as Vista searches for monitor changes when you startup Vista. For more information on TMM, see: Microsoft: Transient Multimon Manager (TMM)

TMM is enabled by default in Vista. Disabling TMM will get rid of that 2-3 second delay at startup.

Heres how ,

Open the Start Menu.
A) Click All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Task Schedular.

In the left pane, expand Task Scheduler, Task Scheduler Library, Microsoft, Windows, and click on MobilePC.

4. In the middle pane, right click on TMM.

Disable TMM
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SPEEDUP STORAGE DEVICES

ENABLE ADVANCED HARD DISK PERFORMANCE

This setting increases hard disk performance further , however you need to have backup power supply for the hard drive to prevent data loss

Here are the steps to enable the tweak

-Right Click On My Computer
-Properties
-Advanced System Settings
-Hardware
-Device Manager
-Expand 'Disk Drives'
-Double Click your hard drive to enter into its properties
-Policies
-Check Mark the following settings

ENABLE WRITE CACHING ON THE DISK
ENABLE ADVANCED PERFORMANCE



This tweak also works for removable drives , but instead, you' ll find this option

OPTIMIZE FOR PERFORMANCE , which can be enabled

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SPEEDUP NTFS FILE SYSTEM :


> DISABLE LAST ACCESS TIME

By default, each file and folder on an NTFS volume has an attribute called Last Access Time, which records the last time the file or folder was opened, read, or changed. This means even when you read a file on an NTFS volume, a write action occurs on that volume too. Normally this isn't a problem, but if you have an application that tends to frequently access files for short periods of time, this feature of NTFS can really slow performance. Fortunately, you can use fsutil to disable writing to the Last Access Time attribute

WARNING : DO NOT use this tweak if you use the SUPERFETCH feature in Vista

Type this in the Command Prompt



Quote:

fsutil behavior set disablelastaccess 1



> DISABLE SHORT FILENAMES

By default, NTFS creates an 8.3 filename every time it creates a long filename, which adds a bit of time to the file creation process. To speed things up, you can disable short filenames using the fsutil command:



Quote:

fsutil behavior set disable8dot3 1



> SPEEDUP NTFS FILE ACCESS BY ALLOCATING MORE RAM FOR NTFS

This is one of the undocumented tweaks whic actually work , that have spread on the internet

You need to have lots of ram [ more than 2 GB is recommended ] for this tweak to really speed things up , if not it will decrease performance drastically



Quote:

fsutil behavior set memoryusage 2



NtfsMemoryUsage = 1 (Normal = 1, Increased = 2; Default = 1)

Change it back to 1 if you have problems

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MAKE THE VISTA GUI MORE SNAPPIER/RESPONSIVE etc


> ADJUSTING VISUAL STYLE SETTINGS

Type this in your Search box in ur start menu and hit enter



Quote:

SystemPropertiesPerformance



Experiment with different settings that suit your needs

This screenshot shows the best set of options for max speed and appearance



> DISABLING TASKBAR THUMBNAILS

This feature might take up some amount of RAM n CPU , if you dont find this feature that useful , you can squeeze some speed

Right Click on the Taskbar
Propeties
Taskbar Tab
Untick Show window previews [Thumbnails]

> DISABLE AERO TRANSPERANCY

If your GUI feels slow even now , consider disabling the Transpency effects and also disabling Aero [ last resort ]

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SPEEDUP SHUTDOWN AND AUTOMATICALLY CLOSE NON RESPONDING PROGRAMS



Quote:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop] "AutoEndTasks"="1" "HungAppTimeout"="1000" "WaitToKillAppTimeout"="2000" "LowLevelHooksTimeout"="1000" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control] "WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="2000"



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DISABLE PAGING OF KERNEL

This will force the kernel to your memory to speed things up
Windows will use more RAM to give better performance

So , Use this tweak if you have 1.5 GB ram or more



Quote:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management] "DisablePagingExecutive"=dword:00000001



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OPTIMIZE POWER PROFILES

Vista's power saving profiles probably do not allow your processor to use power saving features like SpeedStep etc. Vista sets a minimum 5% CPU usage, my guess is , it wont allow the processor to step down its frequency when idle. So here's how to fix this.

Go to Control Panel --> Hardware and Sound--> Power Options

Click Change Plan Settings and Change Advanced Power Settings

[+]Processor Power Management
[+]Minimum Processor State

Set the value for Plugged In to 0 %. Click ok to save the changes.

What I observed was my processor was running at full frequency , even on idle [ not gaming or encoding ] . After this change, it ran at about 60% of the frequency at idle. reducing power and temperatures, and increased it to full throttle in load conditions
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SPEEDUP FOLDER BROWSING

>DISABLE AUTOMATIC NETWORK PRINTER SEARCH

When browsing through shared folders and network computers Explorer can slow down when it is searching the local network for printers. This sounds like a great feature and may be useful for some but I would rather disable it to get maximum performance when browsing through folders.

1. Hit Alt to bring up the menubar if it is not already on the screen.

2. Click on Tools and select Folder Options.

3. On the View Tab, uncheck Automatically search for network printers.

If you dont find that option , you can use this registry tweak



Quote:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RemoteComputer]



Both have the same affect though

>REDUCING DETAIL IN MY COMPUTER WINDOW FOR SPEED

This tweak gives the maximum speed while browsing through folders , but might not give much info on the selected file

Go to My Computer
Organise
Layout
Experiment with the 4 options that suit your needs.
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DISABLE UN- NEEDED SERVICES - HUNGRY RAM EATERS

This is one of the most significant tweaks of em all .

Vista has loads of services running in background eating your precious RAM doing nothing useful.

It difficult to suggest a perfect services configuration as our feature choices may be different

So here is a good guide that will help you choose what services you can disable safely



http://tweakhound.com/vista/tweakguide/page_7.htm http://www.blackviper.com/WinVista/servicecfg.htm



I recommend using ServiceTweaker, to enable/disable services easily


http://www.ajuaonline.com/downloads/



Here's a mini services guide with my recommendations. Follow carefully and make note of all changes you make.

SERVICES :

1] Application Experience & Program Compatibility Assistant Service
: These services provide additional compatibility to run older apps. Unless you use older apps[ highly recommended you always use the latest version of all programs ] you can Disable it safely

2] Background Intelligent Transfer Service : Set it to Manual if you use windows update

3] DHCP Client : A very important service if you have a Dynamic IP Address.

4] Superfetch : Dont fiddle with this service unless you have very low amounts of RAM

5] Readyboost : Do NOT disable this service, even if you dont use an external device as cache. This service enables another feature called Readyboot to improve boot performance.

6] Windows Firewall & Windows Defender : You can safely disable tthese two if you have a solid anti virus and a firewall.
Note : Disabling Windows Firewall service disables some networking features like filesharing etc.

7} Windows Search : If you search a lot, keep this service on, add only prefered locations in its settings. You dont want your harddrive to be beaten up every instant

P.S : I'll be updating this service guide soon, watch out

You can google for more info

SECTION 2 - INTERNET & NETWORKING

Use these commands in the command prompt

DISABLE VISTA AUTO TUNING FEATURE

This feature is known to cause problems with downloading etc. I recommend you disable it.



Quote:

netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled



ENABLE COMPOUND TCP TO IMPROVE NETWORK THROUGHPUT



Quote:

netsh int tcp set global congestionprovider=ctcp



DISABLE ECN CAPABILITY



Quote:

netsh int tcp set global ecncapability=disabled



REDUCE CPU LOAD

Apply these tweaks to reduce cpu load while networking.

ENABLE TCPIP CHIMNEY



Quote:

netsh int tcp set global chimney=enabled



ENABLE RECIEVE SIDE SCALING



Quote:

netsh interface tcp set global rss=enable



ENABLE NETDMA



Quote:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters] "EnableTCPA"=dword:00000001



For more information and documentation about these tweaks, check these links



http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/vistaTCPtweaks.htm http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=2574



SPEEDUP NETWORKING WHILE RUNNING MULTIMEDIA APPLICATIONS

Windows Vista throttles your network bandwidth when you are playing any multimedia file such as an MP3 or a video. This was designed to ensure the CPU has enough free cycles available to play your media without skipping. The down side is that when you are playing a multimedia file you will notice that your network speed of file transfers will decrease on high speed network connections. By default when you are playing a multimedia file your network transfers are limited to 10 packets per millisecond.

In Windows Vista SP1 Microsoft introduces a registry key that allows you to customize this setting.



http://tweakvista.com/article39258.aspx



Apply this tweak only if you have a reasonably powerful processor.

DISABLE IP6 SUPPORT

Most of the internet today is based on IP4 , so you wont be needing IP6 support on vista , and hence can save some resources, but before applying this tweak please check your connection type



Quote:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip6\Parameters] "DisabledComponents"=dword:000000ff



This turns off IP6 support completely !

SECTION 3 - CUSTOMIZE

Master Control Panel - All Windows Options in ONE WINDOW

Create a shortcut with this filename



C:\Windows\explorer.exe shell:::{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}





LONGGGGGGG way to scroll eh

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REMOVE UNNECESSARY VISTA FEATURES

Do this :

Control Panel - Programs & Features - Turn Windows Features On or Off



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QUICK ACCESS TO ADD REMOVE PROGRAMS AND DEVICE MANAGER



Add this to your registry



Quote:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\shell] @="none" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\shell\Control Panel] [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\shell\Control Panel\command] @=hex(2):72,00,75,00,6e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,\ 00,20,00,73,00,68,00,65,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,\ 2c,00,43,00,6f,00,6e,00,74,00,72,00,6f,00,6c,00,5f,00,52,00,75,00,6e,00,44,\ 00,4c,00,4c,00,00,00 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\shell\DevMgr] @=hex(2):40,00,25,00,77,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,69,00,72,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,\ 00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,64,00,65,00,76,00,6d,00,67,00,\ 72,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,2d,00,34,00,00,00 "SuppressionPolicy"=dword:4000003c [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\shell\DevMgr\command] @=hex(2):25,00,77,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,69,00,72,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,\ 00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,6d,00,6d,00,63,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,\ 65,00,20,00,2f,00,73,00,20,00,25,00,77,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,69,00,72,00,25,\ 00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,64,00,65,00,\ 76,00,6d,00,67,00,6d,00,74,00,2e,00,6d,00,73,00,63,00,00,00 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\shell\Software] [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\shell\Software\command] @=hex(2):63,00,6f,00,6e,00,74,00,72,00,6f,00,6c,00,20,00,61,00,70,00,70,00,77,\ 00,69,00,7a,00,2e,00,63,00,70,00,6c,00,00,00



Right Click on My Computer to see your new shortcuts

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SHOW HIDDEN DEVICES IN DEVICE MANAGER

This option enables you to see hidden / disconnected devices in device manager, useful when you cant find which driver is causing the problem



Quote:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment] "DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES"="1"



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DISABLE AUTOMATIC FOLDER TYPE DISCOVERY

Vista automatically sets the template to a folder and doesnt let you change it properly and even if you change it , vista changes it back , that pissed me off , so I used this tweak

So here is a tweak to disable it



Quote:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 ; Reset and delete all saved folder customizations and settings. [-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\BagMRU] [-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags] ; Turn off Vista auto folder type template discovery. [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell] "FolderType"="NotSpecified"


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QUICK ACCESS TO VISTA NETWORK CONNECTION STATUS

Accessing network connection options in vista isnt as easy in XP , youll have to dig through several screens etc
Heres a better and faster way to access it

type in the search box

ncpa.cpl

Viola!
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SLOW MOTION AERO - Eye Candy at its best


If you are using Aero interface with all the animations , youll love this tweak



Quote:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM] "AnimationsShiftKey"=dword:00000001



Hold SHIFT while minimizing or maximizing windows to see the animation in slow motions

Try that with flip 3d too

SECTION 4 SAVE HARD DISK SPACE

DISABLE HIBERNATION

If you dont use Hibernation for your computer , you better disable it as it takes up loads of space on hdd



Quote:

powercfg.exe –H off



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DISC CLEANUP EXTRA CLEANING OPTIONS

You might have noticed that the normal Disk Cleanup utility doesnt have much options for cleanup , so here is a command to enable further cleaning options



Quote:

%SystemRoot%\System32\Cmd.exe /c Cleanmgr /sageset:65535 & Cleanmgr /sagerun:65535



Normal Disk Cleanup



Extended Disk Cleanup


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REMOVE PRE - SP1 BACKUP FILES

Installed Vista SP1 using that stand alone installer ? If you are happy with SP1 and are not uninstalling it , you can save some space by removing the backup files pre -sp1 installtion



vsp1cln.exe



Note - You cannot uninstall SP1 after running the above command!

3RD PARTY PROGRAMS

I'd recommend the following programs speedup & maintain vista

Autoruns

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

Vispa:

http://vispa.whyeye.org/

Ultimate Windows Tweaker -

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/uvtweaker.html

CCleaner

http://www.ccleaner.com/

Download reg tweak files

http://rapidshare.com/files/150572646/Vista_Tweaks.7z.html

Other Guides

Thanks to Headucatiion

http://www.warez-bb.org/viewtopic.php?t=1161554

Ill be adding more tweaks as I discover them

Till then ENJOY

Changelog:

-Added Mini-Service Tweak guide
-Added Reference to more 3rd party apps
-Added pics for more detail
-Re-revised whole guide
-Added reg creation guide
-Added "Disable IP6 Tweak "
-Added extra detail
-Completely redesigned guide - added sections
-Added Show hidden Devices tweak
-GUI Tweaks
-Added More Detail
-Added hard disk performance tweak